Numerous cinematic portrayals and pop culture references have presented potential scenarios when humans run out of food and water sources on Earth. Most plots depend on the remaining crops on dull fields under polluted or even abnormal atmospheres.
In a new study, experts said that the failure of resource replenishments could end the most reliable food producers on the planet. This event will eventually lead the surviving humans to eat each other, even if they are in colonies outside the space.
New Human Colonies Outside Earth, Is It Possible?
TOPSHOT - A couple of astronauts from a team from Europe and Israel walk in spacesuits during a training mission for planet Mars at a site that simulates an off-site station at the Ramon Crater in Mitzpe Ramon in Israel's southern Negev desert on October 10, 2021. - Six astronauts from Portugal, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Israel will be cut off from the world for a month, from October 4-31, only able leave their habitat in spacesuits as if they were on Mars. Their mission, the AMADEE-20 Mars simulation, will be carried out in a Martian terrestrial analog and directed by a dedicated Mission Support Center in Austria, to conduct experiments ahead of future human and robotic Mars exploration missions.
A recent report by the Metro UK shared the insights of astrobiologists regarding the potential endgame of humans in case of widespread exploitation of resources in a new, colonized planet. The scenarios presented in the research are just fragments of a bigger picture in the future of human colonies outside Earth.
The experts said that there is a high possibility that humans will consider moving to Jupiter's Callisto and Saturn's Titan in the future. This is due to the favorable environment that the satellite bodies exhibited in previous research. Other destinations across the galaxy are considered habitable for people, but they do not offer resources as much as the potential gigantic bodies.
The researchers explained that a testing phase must be met to proceed with the plan, allowing initial colonies to reside first on the moon or on planet Mars. With this setup, the colony testers will get support from Earth without distance issues and unwanted delays.
Edinburgh University's astrobiologist Charles Cockell said in the report that the planet Earth is not far from becoming uninhabitable. The expert added that our planet will end sheltering humans due to catastrophically bad climate problems, which we are already experiencing today. These factors will make a polluted and damaged Earth unfit for colonization in the future.
On the other hand, Cockell mentioned one advantage that the present age has. The survival insurance policy, in the form of space programs, is what the prehistoric species lacked during their time. Many extinction took place on Earth, but few have survived due to the inability of animals to move and inhabit other regions outside the deep cosmos.
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Testing Colonies To Prevent Depletion of Resources and Devouring Each Other
To form what people want in their future colonies, experts must first analyze and place these structures over a series of tests. Colonizing other cosmic bodies will take much effort, time, and assurance, so it is necessary to have a near-perfect plan laid out before moving on to our next home.
Portland State University's Department of Anthropology expert Cameron Smith said that many problems will most likely arise in a new colony, but the most crucial is food resources. Alongside a shortage of sustenance, a disease could also damage a colony by infecting any of the members.
Although Smith regards the gas giant satellites, our moon, and planet Mars as 'stepping stones' of human colonization, he also considers the asteroid belt and dwarf planet Ceres as reasonable locations to continue the progress of life.
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